Archive for the ‘poetry’ Tag

My favorite online forum, where I’ve been a member for over a year, yesterday offered me the chance to revise my username. The original pick I made was not helpful in SEO terms, so I happily decided to take up their offer. But what to change it to? My actual business name, Virtual Writing & Communications, seemed too long and difficult for a username.

It was a useful exercise, one that reminded me how useful it is to bravely strip down to essentials. Rather than padding, setting up fluffy barricades to protect your identity and meaning, the trick is to chisel down to the core and then surface with a simple, naked, unadorned truth.

(If you Twitter often and well, you can appreciate the power of brevity. If you’re a poet, you know real poetry is stark, not ‘flowery’ at all.)

So my username has become plainly, ‘virtual writing.’ And of course, I can’t just accept that, but have to consider the precise meaning of those words. We have fiction and non-fiction writing, we have journalistic, poetic, and prose styles. And now we have this new form of writing that’s called ‘virtual writing.’

What distinguishes this new form? We can infer that the ‘virtual’ qualifier at least points to the internet, and probably involves product delivered digitally. Further, I’d like to suggest that virtual writing is writing tailored to the speed and engagement level of the internet; to the ‘scanning’ behavior of most people when they browse; to the necessity of SEO; and to a global audience of anyone (as opposed to a much smaller audience of those who choose to purchase your writing.)

So that takes care of the virtual part, but what about the writing part? The internet is about writing in a very big way, resulting in huge numbers of bloggers and online writers who are trying to get their message out, but are seriously compromised by their sub-standard writing skills. We plunge into the opportunities of the internet without solid practice in this skill, and many a post includes misspellings, poor grammar and rhetoric, obvious total lack of proofreading, and other written communication failures.

Does it matter? If most can decipher your meaning even if the writing is terrible, who cares? I think it really doesn’t matter much at first. The reader is there for your message, after all, and if it can be gleaned from the morass, fine. But in the long run, the quality of your writing is a major influence on your reputation. A reader may get a kick out of your post, but will not remain devoted for long if your writing’s not accurate and rich.

I’m passionate about writing, it’s true. Words are objects of great beauty to me. The internet, also, has captured an enormous part of my attention. So I’m happy with this new moniker: ‘virtual writing’ is me!